The Best Day
by Bella-Saves-The-World
Summary: There's another reason why Edward reacts like he did to Bella. Oh, and what happened when Renee took Bella away from Forks and Charlie all those years ago? Might change the rating later. It's A LOT better then the summary, I promise!
1. Too Far Gone

**This story was basically inspired by two different things. 1.) Is Twilight of course. 2.) Is the song 'The Best Day' by Taylor Swift. **

**I thought it would be nice to establish a better relationship with Bella and Renee while throwing in my own twist, because I can, because this is a fan fiction.**

**Disclaimer: Doesn't the fact that I need a disclaimer prove I don't own anything?**

**______________________________________________________________________**

**Five years old…**

Mommy said we were going to get away. She dressed me up in my big fluffy coat to keep me warm and set me in her red car and told me to stay there until she came back out of the house. I wanted to say goodbye to Daddy but Mommy said there was no time. I knew better then to go against what Mommy said, so I waited for her in the car. It seemed like forever before Mommy came back outside. Daddy was standing by the door and he looked sad. I wanted to run up to him and hug him but Mommy was mad and she was yelling at him. I didn't want Mommy to yell at him but I knew if I got out of the car she would get mad at me too and I didn't want that either.

Mommy yelled at Daddy louder then before. I could see a tear in her eye and it made me want to cry too. Daddy looked like he was begging her to do something but my ears could not hear him. Mommy yelled again and ran to the car and got in.

I looked at her and then back at Daddy. I wanted so bad to tell Daddy that I loved him and hoped that it would make him happy like it always did when I talked to him but Mommy was driving away from him. She was taking me away from Daddy and from our house and I knew I wasn't going to see Daddy for a very long time.

My eyes hardly reached high enough that I could see out the window, but I was trying my hardest to watch as the trees flew by faster then anything I'd ever seen before. My eyes got heavy and I yawned, my mouth stretching into a big 'O'. I leaned back against my car seat and closed my eyes. Maybe we were just going to Grandma's to visit and Daddy didn't want to come with us this time. Yeah… that had to be it.

---

When I woke up, I could see trees, but not the kind I was used to. These trees were 'monkey' trees, as I called them. The ones with coconuts in them. I'd never seen them in person before, only in books and on TV and suddenly I knew we weren't visiting Grandma.

I looked up front at Mommy who was still staring at the road as she drove. She looked sleepy and sad. When she could tell that I was no longer asleep she looked back at me with a smile.

"Hey there Bells. Did you have a nice nap?" Her voice was shaky like mine was when I cried. She smiled a tiny smile at me and turned away.

"Mommy, where's Daddy?"

"Daddy's back home, sweetheart. We're going on a little trip to the beach. How does that sound?" She sounded back to normal. Like I was used to.

"Daddy didn't want to come?"

"No, Daddy didn't want to come this time. But you and me, we're going to have fun Bells." She turned her head slightly as she continued, "We're going to spend the summer down here and we're going to make some friends and play on the beach everyday."

I smiled at her. I liked the idea of the beach and making new friends. Then when summer was over we would be headed back to Daddy and I would tell him about all the shells I collected and all the new friends Mommy and I made. I was just confused as to why Daddy didn't want to come. Oh, well it was his loss. He would just have to enjoy the stories I would tell him eventually.

---

Mommy pulled up to a tiny house that had a big sign in the front yard that I didn't understand. Well I understood the word "sold" but that was all. Mommy got out of the car and came around to my door and opened it up. She unbuckled my seat belt and took me out of my car seat. She cradled me in her arms and stood in the driveway looking at the house. It was very pretty. The house was a light yellow with brown shutters and flowers hanging off of every window box. Mommy was smiling so wide that it almost reached her ears.

She set me down on the grass and reached into the car to get my bag out. Then she grabbed my hand and leaned down next to me with my bag slung over her shoulder.

"Isn't this pretty Bella? We're going to be living here. Do you like it, sweets?"

I looked into her brown eyes, the ones that people always said I had and smiled for her.

'It would be better if Daddy was here too.' I thought, but didn't dare say out loud just in case Mommy would get upset. So I nodded instead and she picked me up and threw me over her free shoulder and we ran inside the house with me giggling the whole way in.

Once inside, Mommy set me down and looked around, sighing with happiness. I was busy spinning around in circles in the empty room until I heard her laughing. I stopped spinning and looked over at her blurred body. I giggled from the little bit of dizziness that I felt and ran over to her and shouted, "Tag!" and ran away. I could hear Mommy chasing after me and that only made me want to run more.

We raced around our empty house for what seemed like forever until Mommy finally caught me and swung me around. She laughed louder then I'd ever remember hearing her laugh and I liked that. I liked seeing Mommy happy.

It got later and I got sleepier from all the traveling but Mommy told me that she still had one more fun thing for me to do before I could go to bed. I yawned and stretched my arms out and reached up for her to swoop me into her arms.

She carried me outside to our front porch and sat me on the tiny swinging bench next to her. She pulled a big blanket out from a suitcase which had not made it inside yet, and wrapped it around us. I was leaning into her side as she pointed to the sky. It was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen. The sun was disappearing behind the 'monkey' trees and the whole entire sky was the prettiest color of gold ever. It was like gold on Mommy's necklace; 'topaz' I remember her calling it.

A few minutes later I was out cold. I laid my head on Mommy's lap and fell asleep. I remember dreaming about us going back home to Daddy and me telling him about Mommy smiling and laughing and asking him why she never did that at home, with him.

_______________________________________________________________________

**13 years old…**

We haven't left. It's been 8 years and we never went back home from our little vacation. At first I was furious. I wanted to see my Dad. Up until I was 10 I'd been making him presents out of seashells to take back home to him when Mom finally decided that we would leave. Until she finally told me, "Bella, sweetie, as you might have guessed. We aren't going back to Forks."

I guess I knew that, somewhere inside of me, I mean I had started school here, but was I going to let that stop me from acting like I wasn't upset about my suspicions being confirmed? No way.

It took me some time to cool down, but not before I ran off in search of a place I could call my own. I waited until Mom fell asleep and climbed out my window and carefully shimmied down the tree, as hard as it was. As soon as my feet touched the ground I sped off to the beach. I'd learned some shortcuts there after awhile and could make it there in ten minutes flat if I ran my fastest.

Tonight I was going to revisit that same spot. My 8th grade graduation was coming up in just a few short weeks and I needed to go think and let out all my frustrations. School, as usual was hard for me. It was especially windy out but I wasn't stopping for anyone or anything. I needed to be alone in my own special place. I drew closer to my spot and was relieved at the thought of crashing down into it's soft sand and crying until I was ready to go back home. I ran around to the opening of the covered entrance and climbed into the small space. It wasn't until I had started sobbing that I noticed a presence of someone else. Who could it possibly be? I could have sworn I was the only one who knew about my secret getaway.

I opened my eyes slightly to see a boy sitting on the other side of my secret hiding place, looking slightly uncomfortable. As if he was the one who just threw himself in a hole and started crying like a maniac. I sniffed back the tears and finally looked up at the boy. He looked about 16, maybe 17 and nice enough, but I couldn't be sure. He shifted awkwardly and looked at me and even in the dark space I could tell that his eyes were bright and friendly and… upset? If I hadn't noticed that he was upset I would have kept staring into his eyes. They were the prettiest thing I'd seen since that sunset when I was five. They were a magnificent green, much brighter and lively and vivid then my dull brown ones.

A tiny voice in the back of my head reminded me not to stare for too long because I could scare him off and that was the last thing I wanted right then.

I'd only had one crush before, yes that's right, only one crush in my life. His name was Shawn and he was in my first grade class and I thought I was going to marry him someday because I was convinced he was the cutest boy in the world, but if I put Shawn next to this boy sitting in front of me, Shawn would have looked like the plainest thing and I would have been ashamed to have ever even thought he was cute.

This boy was far beyond his years in looks. His hair was slightly longer and messier, but in a good way, then most boy's in my class had their hair. And it was such a pretty shade. Almost like the color of a penny mixed with silver. A… bronze! That's the word. It was like a bronze medal. His nose was a little bit crooked but it the most perfect way ever. His face was chiseled in a way I'd never seen before other then the actors in the movies Mom watches.

"Hi. Are you ok?" I must have been staring for so long that he felt compelled to say something. I blinked a few times in shock and then answered with a extremely quiet whisper but I doubt that he heard it.

"I thought no one else knew about this place." He sighed and put his face into his hands. His hands were large enough to make me wonder if he was tall. He lifted one of his hands to his hair and ran his fingers through it. He looked over at me when he dropped his hands back onto his knees.

"Seriously? You ok?" He asked me with such curiosity that it felt rude not to respond.

I stammered to get words out and I knew it sounded like gibberish so I wasn't surprised when he asked me to repeat what I had said.

"I'm fine. I just… I didn't… I'm gonna go home now." I stuttered out and began to stand up when I heard him speak again.

"You don't have to go." I turned back to look at him. He was still sitting the same way and he was not looking at me, but even then I felt like I had to listen to him. He had such a powerful, deep voice. I sat myself back in the sand and looked at him, waiting for him to change his mind and tell me to leave.

"Everyone always leaves." His voice said, yet he still did not look at me. I could agree with his words though. I'd done it. To Dad. I'd left, even though I was pretty sure that Dad didn't blame me for it.

"Tell me about it." The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them. But they caught his attention because he finally looked at me. His eyes were lit with a questioning glare and I found myself wanting to move closer to him, just so I could look into his eyes.

We sat there in silence for an ungodly amount of time, just staring into the others eyes. I didn't quite understand how his beautiful eyes could stare into my boring ones for such a long time without looking away.

"So, what's your name?" He asked as he ran his hand through his hair again. I gulped down the large amount of saliva that had accumulated in my mouth and tried my best to answer.

"Bella…Isabella…Swan." I mentally slapped myself for sounding like an idiot in front of this boy. I could tell that he wouldn't have stuttered his response. I bit my lip, expecting the conversation to end right there. I looked at the sandy ground and played with it, drawing circles with my finger. I jumped a little when he started laughing. I looked back over to him with curiosity. Was he laughing because he thought I was an idiot?

"Ok Bella Isabella Swan. My name's Edward." He smiled and reached out his hand. This was my chance to prove to him that I wasn't stupid or had a speech impediment. I held out my hand to shake his and smiled shyly at him.

"Just Bella." He nodded his head and released my hand. His went back to his knee and mine went back to playing with the sand. Again, it was silent. I wished I wasn't so shy. I wished that I could strike up a conversation, but as luck would have it, I got my dad's social skills instead of my mom's.

"So how did you find this place…Bella?" He tested out my name and nodded once again, but this one was for himself.

"Well, I, uh, I've lived here for awhile and I find this place a few years ago." I explained while picking at the sand on the ground.

"I wonder why I've never seen you before." I could feel his eyes on me as my own were fixated on the ground. He was being nice to me. Boys had never been especially nice to me. I was plain.

"You live here?" Finally, I lifted my gaze from the ground and looked at him. I wasn't going to be shy Bella, I was going to make a different impression on this stranger then I had on all the kids at school.

"I just moved here." I nodded. Then why had he wondered why he'd never seen me before?"

"But I've been coming here every summer since I was born." He'd replied like he knew what I was thinking. I nodded once again, not sure of what to say to this boy. He was exquisite that much I knew. He was intelligent, it was clear through the way he spoke and most importantly he was interested in talking to me.

"So, Bella, what brings you here? If you don't mind telling me." His voice was laced with honest concern and curiosity. Why did this boy have such an interest in talking with me? I was no more exciting then the very sand we sat on. I wasn't exceptionally pretty. My hair was a dark auburn very much like my dad's and it flowed all the way down to the middle of my back in those God awful waves I hated so much. I was pale, way too pale to look normal among all the tan Californians. I was skinny and lanky and while some girls in my class were starting to… develop. I wasn't.

"Uh, I just needed to think about some things and I always come here to think so I came here to think cause I need to get away from home and, you know, think." Good response Bella. Really. He won't think your stupid now huh?

He laughed at me. But it wasn't a mocking laugh, and Lord knows I know what a mocking laugh sounds like. But his was one that would be caused by humor. Who told a joke around her?He can't be laughing because I sounded funny, could he?

As soon as he recovered from laughing he looked at me, with a smile on his face.

"I guess this is a good place to think." He laughed quietly as he mimicked me. So much for the non-mocking laugh.

"But that's a good reason I suppose." He looked over at me once again, still with a smile on his face. He apparently found me humorous.

"Well, uh, what about you?" I managed to ask before blushing bright red from his gaze on me. His smiled faded a little but he didn't hesitate before answering.

"My Dad's really sick." With those words from his mouth, my heart dropped into my stomach. How was it possible that we both had Dad problems. Stop it Bella! I thought. At least your Dad is healthy.

"He…uh, he isn't going to make it." He trailed off slightly before regaining composure and returned to speaking. "He always wanted to live in California and every summer here he would try to convince my Mom to let us stay, but she loved Forks so much and couldn't bare to leave it behind."

I know that my mouth fell open with the magic word. Was it possible that this is what people call fate? Me meeting a boy from Forks and we both have pretty much lost our fathers.

"So when we found out he was sick, we packed our bags and decided to move here so he could finally live in California." He laughed a quiet and sad laugh and his gaze fell to the ground. "So I come here every night, because I cannot stand watching him get even more sick every single night. It kills me to watch as he gets weaker and I cannot do anything to help him."

His hands shook ever so slightly and they fell to the sand. His right hand just a few inches away from me in this tiny little hiding space. I decided to be brave. I took his hand in mine and tried to comfort him.

"It's not your fault Edward." His name flew off my lips like they'd always been there. "There's nothing you can do."

His eyes were locked on our hands and I realized I was making him uncomfortable so I pulled away, or tried to anyway. His hand wouldn't let go. I looked into his eyes and he was smiling. His thumb was rubbing the back of my hand and we were sitting just a little too close for people who met only 20 minutes ago. Yet in those twenty minutes I knew more about him then half the kids in my class. Some part of me was flattered that this much older boy, a junior in high school no doubt, was holding my hand. A lowly 8th graders hand.

"Thank you." He got out. His hand finally dropped mine and it went back to his knee. My hand was still in the same spot that he left it in and I was staring at it. Why on earth did it feel like fire was bubbling under the surface of my skin?

"Tell me about yourself Bella." My gaze was torn off my hand and thrown onto the beautiful green eyed boy in front of me. "How old are you?"

The moment of truth. He wouldn't want to speak to me anymore after this. He would grimace and run away wondering how he could have possibly told something so personal to a little girl who was barely a teenager. My mouth twitched as I answered his question.

"Really? Thirteen? I could have sworn you were older." He smirked at me. He wasn't running. My age didn't scare him off? Should the age difference scare me? Wasn't it almost illegal?

Wait. What am I talking about? Nothing is illegal because he's not even interested in me. We just met for God's sake and I was worrying about… a relationship?

"Nope. I'm embarrassingly young." I sighed, refusing to meet his eyes. "Uh, what about you?" I knew the answer. I just waited for him to say it, Seventeen.

"Fourteen." My eyes darted back to his, wide with shock no doubt. There was no possible way he was fourteen. He was much to well spoken to be at such a young age. He smirked at my expression and leaned closer. "But, shh, don't tell anyone I'm almost as embarrassingly young as you." He laughed.

"You thought I was older? How is that possible? I could have sworn you were seventeen. I mean how old could you possibly think I am? 14 or 15 at the most? But, I have no idea why you would think… I'm babbling. And I probably sound like an idiot, thus proving I'm definitely not lying about my age."

I heard him laugh quietly as I made a fool of myself and I felt his cool, sweet breathe on my face and wondered how long I would be shoved in this tiny hole with him. I was hoping it would be a long, very long, time with Edward in my, or should I say our, tiny hide out.

"You're very interesting to me Bella. I want to know more about you." His breathe tickled my cheek.

A very, **very** , long time would be more exact.

**Chapter 1 - Complete. Wooooo! Ok, so it was long and I was going to keep going but I think over three thousand words for the first chapter is good. Right? Oh, and don't worry vampire lovers. This isn't just one of those all human fan fictions.**

**Review! **


	2. Until We Meet Again

**So, I pretty much couldn't wait to get this uploaded. Thanks to the people who reviewed! Oh and I wrote this at like 5 am this morning (I pulled an all-nighter looking up things I wasn't sure of, yes I did my research for this story) so I apologize for all the mistakes there may be.**

**Disclaimer: Really? You're going to make me say it? Shame on you for making me feel bad. : (**

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

They say that time starts to fly by as you get older, and it normally seems that way, I guess. But for me time has always flown by. It's like my life is on fast forward.

Ever since I'd reached the age that I could learn to take care of myself, I have. I've even taken care of Renee, my mother, though I suppose she doesn't really deserve the title.

Renee is an odd person by all means, she's only in her thirties yet she looks and acts as if she's 21. She's never really been my mom. She's been like the older sister that you're extremely close with, or the young, cool aunt who's always promised that once your 16, she's going to sneak you out on your birthday to get you a tattoo. Whenever we go somewhere, men closer to my age then hers, flirt and try to get numbers from the two 'hot sisters'. Then once Renee is done giggling and acting coy, I'm the one that has to explain that she's my mother and I'm only 13. Then the guys usually cuss under their breath and stalk away.

There are times when I wish I was more like Renee. She's me, but older, prettier, more outgoing and overall just better. Lately she's been telling me that ever since moving out to California, time has been moving slower and slower for her, and she enjoys it. She calls it relaxing. Sometimes I just want to yell at her and tell her that maybe if she took some responsibility my life wouldn't be speeding right by me.

But sitting here, in this small space with Edward, time doesn't seem to go by so fast. I'm experiencing what Renee calls 'relaxing' and it's all thanks to him. It feels like we've been talking for days when it's really only been about two hours. Secretly I'm hoping that Renee is at home wondering where I could possibly be. I hope she's thinking of ways to ground me and I hope that she's actually stressed over me for once, like I always am for her.

Edward said he wanted to know me better and when his breath tickled my cheek I wasn't going to say no to him, like I would have with any other stranger. But that's the thing. He certainly doesn't feel like a stranger and I have to keep reminding myself that he is, indeed, a stranger.

"Favorite song and band?" He asked me, it's his fourth question. I've noticed that he takes his time thinking of them. They're quite simple questions too, which makes me curious and even more intrigued by him.

I blow off some of the sand that had been resting on my leg before answering his question. "That's a tough one, but I'd have to say…New Born, by Muse and they're definitely my favorite band." Most people don't like my taste in music, Renee especially. Lately she's been into the top forty music that plays 24/7 on the radio. I miss when she used to blare Mozart and Beethoven through the house when I was little. I was interested to see what he thought. If he was to even know who Muse was.

His expression was one of interest and surprise. I'm sure mine mimicked his, but for different reasons. He let out a breathy laugh and stared at me for a few moments before answering.

"Wow, I was not expecting that. So, you're not one of those girls that are into, oh I don't know, Britney Spears?" When my expression turned into disgust and my eyes widened he laughed. "Good. That's very… refreshing."

When I asked him the same question, he looked down at the sand and picked up a rock. I could have sworn that I saw a blush creep up his neck and cover his cheeks. What song or band could possibly be so embarrassing that he didn't want to tell me. He looked up for a split second and then hung his head back down, but not to look at the ground this time. He reached a hand into his pocket and pulled out an Mp3 player and handed it to me.

I gently grasped it in my hands, careful not to drop it and pressed a button. I wasn't entirely sure how to work it, seeing as I'd never had one. I expressed no interest in having one, I preferred good old CDs. I was ecstatic when the thing lit up with life. I looked through the songs and gasped in surprise. I shuffled through, and couldn't believe my eyes.

His taste in music was amazing. I reached one song in particular and almost dropped the Mp3 player. He looked at me with his green eyes unsure.

"Should I be really embarrassed right now?" He asked with a smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes. I looked down at the song title once more and then back at him.

"Debussy?" I tried to keep my shocked tone down to a minimum, but it wasn't working for me.

"I just… I don't know." He mumbled and hung his head down. I couldn't help but think how much he looked like a model right then. His jaw was clenched as if he was mad, but his eyes told differently. I shook my head vigorously even though he couldn't the action.

Finally I found my voice. "No. It's just… most kids our age don't listen to the classics. Claire de Lune is one of my favorites." His head snapped up in response as his eyes searched mine to see if I was bluffing.

"I should have known." He chuckled as he came to the conclusion that I was being completely honest with him. Wait, huh?

"You're completely different from every other girl that I know. I should have guessed that you would have known who Debussy is." He explained as if reading my mind. He smirked at me when I looked down. Was that a compliment or did he think I was weird for having an eclectic taste in music, like he did?

"You keep surprising me Bella. You're like a challenge. Like a puzzle." He scooted closer to me as much as he could in the limited space. "Can you tell me something?" He said just above a whisper. He was so close to my face that I could smell him. He smelled… good. More then good. And it wasn't just like a cologne or a shampoo kind of smell. It was natural and it made him all the more appealing.

Before getting lost in my own thoughts I quickly nodded giving him the okay to ask his next question.

"Am I putting the pieces together correctly?" His voice was a breath of air in my ear and it sent shivers down my spine. It was an out of body experience and weirdly enough, I didn't run away from it, like I would have two hours ago. My mind begged for him whisper something else to me, but I tried to block it out with thoughts of what to do or say in response.

But before I could, he moved away. Not back to his original spot when I first entered the small cave, but far enough away that the shiver that ran down my spine was gone and it felt… empty.

He laughed quietly before standing up, or as much as he could and made his way out of the tiny space. That was it? He was just going to leave? I was alone? Wait wasn't that what I wanted in the beginning, when I first came here?

I wanted to shout for him to come back, but my mouth didn't move. I felt a ripple throughout my body and… Wait. I wasn't going to cry was I?

As all these thoughts ran inside of my head, I looked at the opening of the cave and almost jumped when I saw him crouched there, staring at me… laughing?

"You coming out or not?" He chuckled with a crooked grin on his perfect face. My breath hitched in my throat. Was that his plan? To trick me? I planned on being angry but when I looked back at him, with his head turned slightly like a confused puppy I couldn't find it in me to be mad at him.

This boy, who I'd only met about two hours ago had me wrapped around his finger and I wasn't sure he was aware of it, but I certainly was. I quickly nodded and crawled for the opening. He held his hand out for me to take, to help me get out and I accepted it. He grasped my hand and gently helped pull me out of the I was out, he dropped my hand and I felt a pang of disappointment but I shook it off. Standing straight, I felt the pain from sitting too long and stretched my arms and back while shaking excess sand off of my clothes. Once I was done I looked over at him. Good Lord! He was huge! My frame was amazing short next to his. He had to be at least 6 foot. I felt uncomfortably small in my 5'1" body. I basically had to look up at him to speak, which obviously means he was looking down on me.

Although it didn't seem to bother him. I stared at the boy, who I could only guess got mistaken as a man often, and gave him a tiny smile. His own smile only grew as he saw mine and he began walking backwards, motioning for me to follow him. I hesitantly took a step forward and then another. My legs ached badly from being sat on for such a long period of time and I felt it coming. Disaster. Nice knowing him.

I took another step and tripped over a hidden stick. _Well, it was nice talking to him for awhile. Now he's going to think I'm dangerous to be around. He'll think I'll end up falling on him while I trip or something. I guess it's the perfect excuse to get away from me though. Finally, right when someone actually wants to talk to me, my clumsiness comes into effect. Wait, shouldn't I have hit the ground already?_

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I realized I was floating just above the sand. I felt muscular arms holding me from my fate and blushed bright right. It's a good think he can't see my face right now, that would only cause more blush to engulf my face.

Once I was upright again, I couldn't bare to look at him. I'd just let my worst trait take over and exposed it to him, unleashed the beast if you will. He put his hand on my shoulder, and I froze. I heard his voice but couldn't process the words. He repeated them again, but still, he might as well have been speaking Russian.

Then he spun me around to face him, something that shocked me. He kept his hold on my shoulders and looked down at me, most likely wanting to look into my eyes but I was stubborn and looked at my feet the whole time. He then put his pointer and middle finger under my chin and lifted my face so my eyes met his.

"Are you alright?" Those were the words he'd spoken earlier but now I could make sense of them. Not because the words were any clearer, no that wasn't it at all. It was the concern and worry in his eyes that made me realize what his words were. I nodded weakly, hoping he didn't notice the increase in my labored breathing.

He was touching my face and I was sure that I was bright red. It wouldn't have been that bad if we weren't close to the ocean, with the moon reflecting off the water and onto our faces. Yet I was surprised that he didn't even bother to look at my flushed face.

It was intense; his eyes trained on mine. Too intense for too kids who had just met. But something deep inside me told me he was no more of a kid then I thought. Something told me that he was more mature and responsible then any other boy his age. He was like me in that way. He was forced to grow up entirely too earlier. He might have noticed the same thing in my eyes but I couldn't be sure. How could you find anything in two puddles of murky brown?

His fingers soon dropped from my face but his other hand stayed in place on my shoulder. He gently rubbed a spot on bare shoulder with his thumb and spoke, "That would have been a nasty fall. Good thing I was so close to you, huh?" His crooked smile was in place on his face and I could finally breathe normally again. I smiled and gently pushed him away. He laughed and began walking again. I followed, carefully this time and caught up to him. His legs could carry him further faster then mine could. Once he realized I was struggling to keep up with him while trying not to fall again, he slowed his pace down so that he was walking right alongside of me. I couldn't help but notice that we were walking in sync.

"Would it be really cheesy if I asked you if I could walk you home?" He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked over at me. I laughed quietly then looked up at him.

"Well, it might be a little cheesy. But what's a better way to end the night then being a little cliché?" His mouth pulled into a smirk as I spoke. I looked forward for a minute just to make sure nothing was in my path, there's no way that I'm going to trip again, and he gently nudged me with his shoulder and I stumbled.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't see you there."

"Okay, I get it. Here come the short jokes. Gotcha." I faked a hurt expression and walked slightly faster so that we weren't side by side anymore. I sneaked a peek behind me and he was laughing. He caught me looking and winked. I turned my head quickly and blushed. I wasn't denying the fact that I wanted him to quicken his pace and come walk by me again.

"Are you going to keep walking that fast or are you going to stop and let me catch up?" He said loud enough for me to hear. I almost laughed out loud hearing him say this. With a few strides he should be able to catch up with me pretty quickly. I stopped and turned around to face him.

Crossing my arms across my chest I answered. "What? I thought you would be able to see me better if I was standing far away."

He smirked.

"Mm, not really. You just keep getting smaller the farther away you are."

I frowned and kicked the sand in front of me. "You know, that really isn't the way to make me walk slower."

"Okay. I'm sorry and I promise; no more short jokes." He walked closer to me and I pouted. I saw him smirking at my actions. I probably looked and seemed like a little kid to him right now, but I didn't care because it made him walk even closer to me.

"Forgive me?"

_Yes. _"I don't know. I just met you and you're already cracking jokes at my expense. What am I to make of that?" I jutted my bottom lip out even farther making him laugh a little. My stomach flipped just at the very thought that I could make him smile.

"I suppose you could think that I'm a terrible person. I suppose that you could walk away from me this very second and never look back. I suppose that you could yell at me and make me feel like a class A jerk. Would you like me to continue or are those good enough?" His green eyes shone in the moonlight and he inched closer once again.

I took a deep breath and lifted my head so that I could look into his irises, lips still pulled into a pout. _I have no words. I was full of witty comebacks just seconds ago. I look into his eyes and then…poof. All of them are gone._

My eyebrows pulled down in frustration and the crease between my eyes grew. I barely noticed his hand reach out to my face and smooth out the indentation my confusion caused.

"Pouting works on you. Anyone else it would have looked stupid and childish, but not on you. That could be a problem with me. I might just have to give in to it every time you do it." Hope fluttered around in me. He had said 'every time'. Did that mean that there would be more times with him?

"Bella, do you forgive me?" Seriousness surrounded us now. His hand had moved down to a safer more familiar place; my shoulder. Just as I was about to answer a gust of wind whipped my hair around the both of us, causing us to laugh. I tried to tame it with my hands but the wind kicked back up. I quickly held most of it down and pulled the hood on my sweatshirt over it. When my mane was back in place I looked back to Edward still laughing.

"Do you know the time? I feel like it's really late." I said through laughs. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. Seriously? What else did he have in his pockets?

"It's about 1." He replied and put his phone back.

"Oh, great. Renee is going to flip." I dug my foot into the sand and mentally slapped myself. I didn't want to mention Renee at all and here I am talking about her. He looked confused for a moment before asking, "Your sister?"

Great! He hasn't even seen her yet and he already assumes she's my sister. I should really start saying 'Mom'.

"Uh, no. My mom." I grimaced. She was probably calling Grandma right now and telling her how I ran away. I never meant to stay out this late. Hopefully she hadn't even noticed that I was gone. Maybe she was still sleeping soundly in her bed. Or maybe, just maybe she noticed but didn't really care.

"You refer to your mom by- you know what? I'm not even going to ask." He chuckled and I laughed nervously.

"I should probably get home. She'll probably ground me when I get home, but I could really care less." I snorted. I wanted to make her sound more like a mother. Truthfully she would most likely tell me that it 'wasn't cool' to stay out that late and make her worry.

"Yeah. I guess you should. Don't want to make your mom even more mad, do we?" He laughed almost silently then looked out to the ocean, squinting as if he was thinking about something important. I shuffled my feet not knowing what to say. Not that he gave me a chance because he turned back to me.

The moonlight shone on his face, defining his already definite jaw, and he looked even more godly then he had earlier. The vision in front of me was stunning. I almost felt as if I wasn't good enough to look at him right then.

"I want to see you again." Blunt was one word to put that statement. It took me awhile to realize that it wasn't my imagination running wild. The statuesque boy in front of me had actually spoken those words. To me. I, out of everyone, had actually captured the attention of this boy. I didn't even know his last name yet. Mental note: ask his name before departing.

"I…uh…ok." I managed. _That was genius. Good job Bella._

"Good." He smiled that beautiful crooked smile of his and wrapped his arm around my shoulder making his side touch mine. "Ok, let's get you home." And we were headed in the direction of my house.

________________________________________________________________________

"Ok, I have more questions for you." He said after walking in silence for half the way to my house. Normally, it didn't take a quarter of the time it took us to walk this far. But I really wasn't going to complain, even if this walk took us until 3 am.

"Joy." I replied with a fake smirk on my face. He pretended to look hurt and I shoved him gently. "Alright, go ahead." He put his arm back around my shoulder and resumed.

"I was going to anyway." He smirked, "Favorite color?" I laughed. Such a simple question yet he seemed genuinely interested in my answer.

"Well it depends on the day. Today I'm thinking that green is my favorite color." I hoped that he would know the meaning behind my answer. His eyes. He showed no sign of noticing as he continued.

"Sport?"

I grimaced and shook my head. "None. I'm not coordinated to play any of them nor do I have the patience to watch them."

He seemed to accept my answer and then asked, "Favorite book?"

I was happy to answer this one for him. "Pride and Prejudice," I stated simply. There was no competition. It was by far the best book in the history of books.

This is how it went for the rest of the walk back to my house. All very simple questions and I was happy to answer them. He was smart not to ask me any personal questions and I gave him credits for that.

My mouth twitched in disappointment as I saw my house come into view. I was kind of ashamed of the house I once thought was beautiful. I now realized it was too tiny, the shutters were an ugly shade of brown and the plants in the window boxes haven't been tended to for months. I pictured what Edward's house looked like. I imagined it was white and tan, with split levels. There were plants and trees scattered throughout the residence respectively. The driveway and street were separated with a light brown gate and the house was surrounded by a black, metal picket fence.

I sighed as I though about his mysterious house and as we halted in front of my house.

"This is my stop." I sighed. I glanced at my house, noticing that no lights were on. That was a good sign. Renee was most likely still asleep.

"Unfortunately." He murmured. His arm had dropped from my shoulder and I immediately felt the loss. I turned to him and saw that his hand was knotted in his hair and his expression was unreadable.

"I guess this is goodbye." I said and I backed up slowly. His eyes flickered over to me and he sighed then took a step forward reaching his arm out and grasping my upper arm gently.

"Listen, I'm going to give you my number. You can keep it or… throw it out," he winced at the idea of me throwing it away. "But I'd really like it if you called me tomorrow."

I gulped. Loudly.

He wanted me to call him. He wanted to see me again, or at least talk to me again.

"I'd… uh, I… Cool." I groaned and he looked at me, confused. "I mean I'll call you. I will." I corrected my mistake and I saw a smile form on his perfect face. He let his hand drop from my arm and I took a step backwards. "Okay….Bye!" I said and turned around too fast, almost giving myself whiplash but I was fine with that as long as he didn't see my entire face covered in my blush.

"Bella!" He called out before I made it to the steps. I turned back to him to see his shoulders shaking with laughter. I made a face and he smirked.

"You're forgetting something." He called to me, low enough so that he wouldn't wake Renee. I raised one eyebrow as if to tell him that I wasn't sure what he was talking about. He just laughed more.

"It would be helpful if you actually had my number." If possible, I swear I blushed an even brighter red. I'd turned around so quickly to make sure he wouldn't know how red I got at the thought of him giving me his number that I hadn't even stayed around to get it. _Nice going stupid._

"Right. Uh, so… what is it?" I asked as I walked toward him slowly. He rattled off the digits and I stored them in the front of my mind so that I would remember to write it down. He laughed a bit more when stumbled on a rock while walking backwards then he stopped and once again advanced towards me. Was he going to hug me?

He stood far enough away from me so that we could both see into the other's eyes without have to look up, or down in his case. And then he reached forward. I panicked so I jutted out my hand as if to shake his. He looked down at it with an eyebrow raised and then laughed. He put his own, huge, hand into mine and shook it firmly.

"Goodnight, Bella." He whispered. I noticed how he didn't say 'goodbye' like most people do. _Maybe it's because it's not goodbye. _

"Goodnight, Edward." I whispered back. Our hands unlocked and he slowly turned around and started walking away. I stumbled backwards for a bit then turned around and made my way to the door. The little trip up one of the steps made me remember the mental note I made earlier.

"Edward!" I called to his retreating back, in a hushed yell. He quickly turned around to look at me. "What's your last name?" I asked.

I heard his almost silent laugh coming from the sidewalk as he answered the question.

"Mason."

"Thank you!" I called to him. He laughed again, though this time it was too low for me to hear, and shook his head while he walked away."Nice to meet you Edward Mason." I whispered to myself and turned the knob on the door, carefully so I didn't wake Renee. I shut the door silently behind me and sighed. This was almost too easy, I thought.

I was almost to the steps when the living room light switched on and I gasped almost stumbling down the steps. I regained composure and looked over at the couch.

"Hey… Mom." Uh-oh.

**Ok, this one's longer!**

**Oh, important message: I'm looking for a beta-reader. Anyone (who meets the requirements) interested? Please tell me in a review or something and I'll be happy to let you know!**

**Oh and just in case anyone forgot or was unsure, Edward and Bella are 13 and 14. Edward has no idea who the Cullen family is right now so there will be no Cullens (Alice, Emmett, Carlisle, ect.) yet. But don't worry they will be eventually. Cause the story would just be boring without them.**

**Review!**


	3. Let Me Sign

**Longest chapter yet! Oh and I realized that in the last two chapters Edward's last name was spelled wrong because my computer didn't realize that Masen could be spelled with the 'E'. I also suggest that if you haven't already you go listen to Taylor Swift's song The Best Day so you can understand the story better. I wanted to make Renee and Bella's relationship more defined then it is in Twilight.**

**Disclaimer: I own Heather! And Mrs. Welsh and Mr. Towns! And anything else you don't recognize. Other then that, I only wish I owned.**

---

Why couldn't I have a normal mom? I love Renee with all my heart but sometimes I seriously wish that my mom was one of those cute little soccer moms who drives a minivan, has fresh cookies made for me when I get home and actually dates men her age, but no. I have Renee.

Don't get me wrong. If I actually had the choice to replace Renee with one of those women, I wouldn't do it. Renee is my best friend in the whole world and I go to her for everything, but sometimes I need more then a friend. I need someone who's going to yell at me when I need discipline, and tell me I'm wrong when I do something stupid. Is that so wrong?

---

"Hey…Mom."

My hands were shaking and my words came out in stutters. This was by far the worst thing I'd ever done. Never in my life had I been the rebellious child and I had planned on keeping it that way because Renee was all I had and vice-versa.

"Where were you?" Her arms were folded across her chest and her eyes were narrowed as she glared at my from her spot on our brown couch. She was playing the Mom card right now and that certainly wasn't a good sign for me.

"I…uh…I was…a-at the…beach?" Such as simple statement came out of my mouth as a question.

"You were out there until two in the morning?"

"Yes?" Technically it wasn't a lie. She hadn't said the word 'beach' she'd said 'out there' and technically I was 'out there' until two in the morning. Hopefully I could make it through this conversation without lying to her. I knew she would catch a lie anyway.

"Alone?"

I knew panic had spread around my features as Renee continued to give me the death glar from across the room. _Lie, Bella, lie._

"Mmm-hmm." _Good. Don't use words. It's easier to catch._

Renee sighed and stood up, stalking closer to me, arms still folded. I swallowed hard and refused to meet her eyes. I felt her hands on my shoulders and couldn't help but to have a flashback to earlier when _he _had done the same thing.

"Okay, who is the boy?" She asked in a much softer tone then before. Brown peered into brown, finally, and I sighed.

"He's no one. Just a guy I met at the beach." I shook her hands off my shoulders and moved around her on my way to the couch. I fell into the soft cushions and buried my face into my hood, hoping that she would drop it.

"He looked pretty tall. How old is he?"

Great. She sounded giddy. This was her 'let's talk about boys' voice and I dreaded the following conversation. Shouldn't she have yelled at me and told me to go to my room by now? I found myself wondering, for the first time in awhile, what Charlie would do if I was with him right now. I bet he would have grounded me and right now, that sounded better then having this talk with Renee.

Then I found myself wondering what Edward was doing, right this very second. Was he home? Was he back at the beach? I desperately wanted to know.

"Mom, I really don't want to talk about this." I bounced slightly as her weight pushed down on the cushion next to me. She folded her legs Indian-style and faced me. Her eyes showed excitement and curiosity and she looked beautiful. How could this woman be my mother?

"Bella, really. You stay out with this boy until the early hours of the morning and you expect me not to ask about him?" She sighed in annoyance. "You didn't…. did you?" Her voice suddenly exhibited worry and my eyes widened with shock when I realized what she meant.

I shook my head, "No! God no, Mom!" I practically screamed. For the love of God I had just met this boy and she was implying that I'd already slept with him? Is she crazy?

"Well how was I to know Bells?"

I groaned and pushed myself off of the couch and shuffled into the kitchen to grab a piece of paper and a pen. I pushed myself up to remember his number as Renee harassed me with questions about Edward. I scribbled down the last number as it hit me. She said, 'he pretty looked tall'. That means that she was spying. My mother was spying on me! She knew I lied! She saw me blushing because of Edward!

"You sneak!" I yelled suddenly, pointing a finger at her. "You spied on me! You looked through the window, and spied on me!"

It was Renee's turn to blush tonight. "What was I supposed to do? I heard voices outside, that woke me up by the way, and looked out the window only to see my daughter flirting with some boy."

"Oh, Mom! I was not flirting!" I stood defensively, with my arms across my chest, mimicking her stance earlier. I scoffed, as if she had said the craziest thing ever. She just smiled.

"So… are you going to see him again?" She smirked and pushed my shoulder gently. I rolled my eyes and walked past her, shoving the piece of paper in my pocket. I wouldn't let her get the chance to see that he'd given me his number. That would certify at least two weeks of her poking fun at my expense.

"Uh, I don't know." It was the honest truth. I didn't know if I would ever see Edward Mason again. I flinched at that thought.

"What? Was he not cute up close?" I laughed silently before answering.

"No, not really." _He wasn't cute at all. He was the most beautiful guy I'd ever seen in my life._

"Did he have a good personality at least?" Renee asked as her smirk turned into a grimace probably thinking that he was some creep who followed me home.

"Nope. He didn't have a good personality." _It wasn't good. It was amazing. _I stifled a laugh when I heard Renee pout, and I made my way over to the stairs. I mounted the first step before turning back to her.

"'Night, Mom." I told her with a small smile. She waved goodnight and I headed upstairs to my room and crashed on my bed.

I gazed up at my white ceiling. I absolutely adored my room. It was extremely small, no doubt the size of a bathroom, with a slanted ceiling over my window. The wall by my bed was converted into a bookshelf and held all of my favorites. There wasn't even enough space left for one more book. One of the walls was painted a sea foam color and it complimented the pink curtain I had hanging over my window. My desk was placed against a different wall, right across from my bed with the chair over to the side, because there wasn't enough room to get around if it had been placed in front of the desk.

Any other girl would hate this room because of it's size and lack of space, but I couldn't get enough. I like being in small spaces. They were comforting to me. I know I didn't fall asleep until dawn, because the birds started chirping. My thoughts were consumed with Edward as sleep conquered me. My eyes suddenly felt heavy and the last thing I saw before the unconsciousness hit me, was his face. _Goodnight, Bella._

---

**A week and a half later…**

Another weekend was over and I dreaded going back to school because the kids there are immature and crude. Renee says that I don't like them because I've never actually been a child. _Hmm, I wonder why. Maybe it's because she's too busy acting like the child. _Still, their remarks towards me are ignorant and make absolutely no sense. Sure, maybe I like to read rather then talk to any of them. Okay, and maybe I have the highest GPA out of all of them, but that might be because I actually pay attention in class.

The girls judge my clothes and hair while the boys make disgusting remarks about wanting me to come over to 'hang out' with them. Only 13 and 14 years old and half of them have already lost their 'innocence'. I cannot wait to graduate from this hell hole.

Renee dropped me off at my doom and I sighed when I walked through the doors. _Just three more weeks. I can do this. _As if on cue, one of the boys in my homeroom, Ray, glided past me and slapped my butt then winked, "Call me tonight, Bella. We can have some fun this weekend." I didn't even have time to glare at him or tell him off because I winced when he said 'call me'. I never did call _him. _I feel horrible about it, but I just couldn't bring myself to pick up the phone and dial. I would do something to screw up the friendship anyway, so I might as well end it before it began.

The first bell rang so I darted over to my locker and put away unneeded books and grabbed the ones for my first class; English. Accidentally, when I pulled my English book out, others fell out with it. I cussed silently under my breath and bent down to pick up the mess. Grumbling to myself, I slammed my locker door shut and stood up. I brushed the dust from the floor off of my knees and hitched my bag over my shoulder.

As I turned around to walk into homeroom the late bell rang. _This is just perfect! I hate this school. _I thought as I stumbled into class and tripped over someone's shoe. I heard one of the guys laugh and I hung my head, not wanting to even look at the other kids. I slammed my books on the desk and waited for the fifteen minutes to fly by before I could go to English, my favorite class.

I shot through the crowd of kids when it finally rand. I swear, that bell is my savior. Entering English, I quietly sat down at my desk and smiled. I was in advanced English, this was the only class with decent kids and a fairly nice teacher, but of course I still didn't like to be bothered in this class, so I sat next to an empty desk. I didn't mind because it meant I could work, and concentrate without having someone constantly talking or tapping their fingers or something else equally annoying.

Today we were discussing _The Raven _by Edgar Allen Poe. I don't actually like Poe and _The Raven _is sort of annoying, I still took vigorous notes as the teacher talked. Midway through the discussion there was a knock at the door. I didn't bother to look up as I scribbled away at my notebook.

"Mrs. Welsh, I just came by to drop the new student off." The voice spoke quietly. I recognized the light, feathery voice as the girl from my Spanish class, who tried to speak with me on several accounts to be polite.

So, we had a new student. I didn't dare look up because then I might lead to catching their eye, which I knew wouldn't happen, but still. I wondered if it was a he or a she, another jerk or someone kind. And why the heck did they make a transfer so late in the year?

"Ah, yes. Have a seat right here, dear." Mrs. Welsh said as she lead the student to the desk next to mine. I widened my eyes at my paper and sighed inwardly. My nice, quiet English class was ruined. I covered my left shoulder with my hair, using it as a curtain from this person. I was trying to make it clear that I didn't want any type of communication with them and they seemed to be getting the message because so far, they hadn't spoken a word.

The last five minutes of class was Mrs. Welsh quizzing us on what the symbols and other poetic devices in the poem meant or what we think of them.

"Can someone please explain why Poe describes Lenore as 'radiant'? instead of 'beautiful'?" I raised my hand to answer but, as usual, Mrs. Welsh's eyes passed right over me. I was used to it, not many people notice me. I was _not _used to the fact that her eyes skimmed right over me to my new neighbor though.

"Yes, dear? What do you think?" The teacher asked him/her, whoever they are. I sighed and hung my head down to doodle in my notebook as the mysterious new student spoke.

"Obviously, it's because she was the light in his life." The voice spoke, and suddenly everyone in the room became quiet. The voice was smooth and calm, not at all like someone who was here for the first day. It even took Mrs. Welsh to snap back into reality.

"Care to explain? Why was she the 'light' in the speaker's life?" Mrs. Welsh probed the new student, who was obviously male.

"She was the only thing he lived for and with her gone all's dark in his world now."

"Yes, but how is that any different then, oh, I don't know, turning on a lamp?" "Well, I'm pretty sure with all the symbols Poe used in the stanza's, he was trying to make it pretty clear that it wasn't only the month, or the house that was dark in the speaker's world. It's like Lenore was the speaker's sun. As if even on the sunniest day without her, it would seem dark and dreary."

I found myself listening and trying to grasp his words. He spoke much different then any other boy I'd ever met. _Except for one. _I quickly shook that thought out of my mind and then the bell rang. I sprang from my seat so I could get to my locker before anyone else. Just as I almost reached the door, Mrs. Welsh spoke.

"That was some excellent insight from someone who came in so late in the year." She praised, obviously talking to the new student.

"Thank you." He chuckled. I heard the scraping of his books getting pulled off his desk and the shuffle of feet.

"It's nice to have you in my class, Edward. It's a shame that it's so late in the year though."

I froze where I stood. _It's just a coincidence, _I told myself. _Plenty of kids are named Edward. It's not him._

"It's my pleasure." I heard the smile in this boy's, _not Edward, _voice.

"Mr. Masen, please stay after for a few minutes so I can give you a copy of the poem."

The sound of heavy books dropping on the floor flowed throughout the tiny classroom. My hands trembled as I tried to pick them off the floor in a hurry, desperately wanting to get out of the classroom.

"Isabella, are you ok?" I heard my teacher ask from her desk. I quickly looked behind me to give her a small smile before returning to pick up my books, for the second time today.

"I'm alright, Mrs. Welsh. It's just my bad coordination working against me." I heard _him _laugh quietly and I inhaled deeply. Just because I never called him, doesn't mean that he has to laugh at me for being clumsy. I shut my eyes tightly before standing up to exit the room.

"Wait, just one second Miss. Swan. I have your paper graded and I think you should come take a look. It's was really rather good." Mrs. Welsh called. Was she doing this on purpose? I turned around sharply, which wasn't the best idea since it made me stumble and almost lose my balance. I stalked over to her desk while looking at my feet.

"I think it's the best thing you've written all year, Isabella." She smiled up at me from her desk chair and handed me the paper which had a huge A plus written across the top. I froze when I saw which paper she meant exactly.

It was the poem she assigned us the week after I met Edward at the beach, so naturally I'd written about the encounter. I felt as his eyes bore into my back but I ignored it. Soon I would be out of this classroom and into Science, one of my other advanced classes.

"Wow. Thanks Mrs. Welsh, but I should really be going to class now." I stuffed the paper in my bag and grabbed the pass she had written me. She nodded and I took that as a sign that I was free to go. Once more I had almost reached the door and then Mrs. Welsh spoke again.

"Oh, Miss. Swan, be a dear and show Mr. Masen here to his next class." She said it with a smile I assume, but I pictured her with a smug little grin. A little grin that showed she knew I was uncomfortable and she wanted to torture me. I take it back, she's not nice anymore.

I spun around on my heels and cracked a small, fake, grin. "Sure," then I looked at him for the first time, "Come on." With that I turned back around and headed out the door. He said his goodbyes to Mrs. Welsh and followed me out the door and into the long hallway.

I groaned when I remembered that I still had to go get my books at my locker. I turned around slightly so that I could see him out of the corner of my eye. "I hope you don't mind, but I have to go to my locker first." He wasn't smiling, he wasn't even smirking. He kind of looked angry, ticked off. So my fear of him being mad at me was true.

"I don't mind." His voice was low, and steady and I shut my eyes for a short second before mumbling, "Good, because I was still gonna go anyway." He snorted without humor from what I heard.

The rest of the walk was completely silent and it was bugging the crap out of me. So what if I didn't call him? Can you really blame me? I knew him for less then four hours, that's not enough time for me to get used to someone new, let alone call them the next day. I sighed in relief when I finally got to my locker after walk that seemed to last forever. I twirled the lock around until I got to the last number and then pulled. Nothing. I tried it again and pulled. Still nothing. I groaned and banged my fist against the stupid, silver locker.

"Open!" I shouted to it, though it wouldn't hear me. I beat it with my fist again and then kicked it. "You're a stupid locker! I hate you!"

I felt a shove from my right and moved away from the locker in shock. Edward spun the dial around, knowing exactly what numbers to open it with - probably from seeing me put them in, and pulled. The stupid locker swung right open for him.

"You didn't have do that. It would have opened…eventually." I moved to get into the locker, setting my English books down and pulling out science.

"It probably would have, but not without beating you up first." I looked up at him and rolled my eyes. His face was expressionless, even though he'd just made a joke. Or not. Maybe he was completely serious, but how was I to tell when his face and eyes showed nothing. I slammed the door to the locker shut and fully faced him. I was completely frustrated with his attitude and I wasn't going to stand it.

"Okay! I get it. I'm a jerk. You're mad. I'm a jerk and you're mad at me. I know." I crossed my arms in front of my chest so I didn't have the urge to poke my finger into his chest. "But you're acting like a five year old!"

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, proving my point. He reached a hand up to his bronze hair, which was already disarrayed , and pulled it through his messy locks, looking godly as he did so. _I wonder what his hair feels like…_

"Oh, that's mature." I spit the remark at him hoping it would get a reaction. It did.

"I am mature. Thanks for noticing, but apparently you aren't." Edward used his height to purposely tower over me, and gave me a condescending look. "You didn't look at me once during class. You didn't even want to be in the same room as me. You're right Bella, you are the icon of maturity."

"You're… I… Mean!" I shouted up to him and turned my back and started down the hallway. "Find your class on your own!"

"I will. I don't need some psycho yelling at me the whole way, when I didn't do anything to her. All she had to do was make one little call and this could have been avoided. But no… Here we are, fighting in the hallway. Now your leaving and I'm standing here alone. By your locker." Really? He was going to keep calling after me? "That I know the combination for. Hmm, I wonder what you have in here."

"No!" I spun around and raced back to my locker, as he was putting the combination in, and pushed him away from it. I didn't want him to even have the chance to know that his numbered was pinned up in my locker. I was surprised he hadn't caught it earlier when he first opened the locker.

I could feel his smug figure standing next to me as I reset the lock. This boy was going to be the death of me.

"Full of skeletons?" He asked and for the first time his tone was normal, almost relaxed. I winced when I figured out that it was because he realized that he had the power to convince me to come back and talk. He was going to take advantage of that.

"No. But there's a first for everything." I hinted at him with sarcasm. "Want to be the first one?"

"As much as I would like to see you try and kill me, I'd rather stay alive." The fluorescents caught his green irises and made them shine and I, for the life of me, couldn't look away from him. He seemed to notice and his body relaxed as he rested his arm on the top of the short lockers. I was contemplating how he could possibly see in his own locker.

"Bella, I should probably apologize." He began. I opened my mouth to respond but he put a hand over it before the words could escape. I decided against licking it to get his hand off of me. "I'm just… a little confused." His perfect eyebrows narrowed as he stared at me. "I thought… I don't know what I thought." His hand fell off of me and he turned slightly so that his back was up against the lockers.

I took advantage of this time and just took him in. From the very tips of his hair to his feet, he was gorgeous. I was standing in the hallway with this god and I was upsetting him. His eyes focused on the linoleum floor, tracing the pattern intently. I exhaled trying to calm myself before I spoke.

"You're apologizing to me? I'm the one who didn't call so, that kind of gives you a right to be angry." His attention was brought back to me and I didn't slink away from it. "Do you want to… I don't know, hit me or something? Would that make you feel better?" That got a laugh out of him.

"It would make me feel better. Go ahead." I placed a finger on my cheek, "Right here. Go for it." I closed my eyes to enhance my act. A warm hand was placed over mine and pulled it away from my face as a quiet laugh escaped his lips.

"You think I could really hit you, even if I wanted to?" He chuckled, "Besides, why would I want to mess up such a pretty face?" The blood rushed up to my cheeks from his compliment and I bowed my head away from his gaze. My eyes locked at my hand that was still being held by his. I tugged my hand away gently and looked up at him through my eyelashes.

"Um, class…" I trailed off hoping that he would get the idea. He did and he quickly nodded and stood up straight, taking his back off the lockers. "Where are you off to?" I asked to be sure of what direction we were headed in. He told me that he was going to History with Mr. Towns and we started off. It wasn't the awkward silence that it had been when we walked to my locker, it was more comfortable. When we reached the destination we stood outside the class for a few minutes.

"Well, here it is." I said for the fifth time and he chuckled at my stupidity. I felt like slapping myself for being so awkward when he seemed to be relaxed all of a sudden.

"I don't really have any interest in going in there." He laughed shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'd much rather stand here and watch you repeat yourself." I shoved his arm lightly and he grabbed my hand before I could pull away. I pulled away from him and smiled.

"What will the school make of you? Your first day here, and you're already skipping classes." He slid down the wall and sat down, patting the space next to him for me. I looked around nervously, worried. It's not like any of the teachers would mind if I was out here, because I had straight A's, so the teachers usually gave me a break, so I wasn't so much worried for myself as I was for him.

What would happen if he got caught skipping? Would he be expelled even though he just got here, and we only had three weeks left?

"Stop worrying." He said, snapping me out of my daze. I looked down at where he sat. He had a huge grin on his face as he patted the spot again. I sighed and sat down keeping a good amount of distance between us. He gave a pleased smirk and leaned his head back against the wall.

"I'd say this is kind of dangerous; sitting outside the class that you're supposed to be in, right now." I glanced at the door, waiting for Mr. Towns to hear us and barge out of the room, threatening us with detention.

"He can't hear us and he doesn't even know I'm supposed to be in there." His eyes were closed as he leaned back and the smirk was still present on his face.

"How could you possibly know that?" I tugged at my hair and hissed when I accidentally pulled out three pieces. Had I really been tugging that hard?

"Good guess." I saw his chest move as he inhaled deeply. "Are you wearing perfume?"

I frowned in confusion at his question. I'd never put a spray of perfume on my body in my whole life. I'd never felt the need to wear it, because it never appealed to me. "No." I consciously sniffed my hair, but all I could smell was the generic shampoo that barely had any smell at all. I noticed that he reached over to me and held out a hand, palm up.

"Give me your hand." His eyes were still unopened as I slowly placed my hand on his. His fingers wrapped around my hand as he brought it close to his face, my breathing hitched as he inhaled again. And then one more time. "You smell good." He mumbled so low that I could barely hear it. I blushed a crimson color and stared at our hands that were still dangerously close to his face.

How was it that he always seemed to capture my hand in his own? It's been about 15 minutes and he's already managed to hold my hand three times. Why didn't I mind?

He inhaled once more before lowering our hands to a much safer level, but he didn't let go. I'd pulled away the other two times but couldn't find it in my to pull away for a third time, although I had the desire to smell my own hand to see what he was talking about.

"Just, out of curiosity, why didn't you call me?" When I looked back up at his face his eyes were focused on me and I felt his fingers flex around my hand.

"I… Um…"

"You don't have to tell me." He noticed my nervousness and, I guess, that he said it to put me at ease, but one look in his eyes told me that I had to tell him the truth.

"I-I was… scared." I said truthfully and winced. Telling the truth hurts. I found the courage to look back into his green orbs and found curiosity and confusion, and I felt the need to explain. "Of me?" He wondered and I quickly shook my head no.

"You see… I'm not good at the whole friend thing. I knew I would have done something to mess up any sort of friendship we could have formed and I thought it was best to not even start one, so I couldn't screw things up." I laughed with out humor, "Look where that got me. Screaming at you in the hallway like some sort of crazed loon."

"I'd say you're a pretty sane loon." He chuckled and rubbed circles on the back of my hand with his thumb, bringing back memories from the night that we met. "A cute, tiny, sane, loon." "That's an oxymoron." I chose to ignore the 'cute, tiny' part of his sentence. He laughed loudly and I widened my eyes at him. "Shh! Do you really want to get caught?" I threw my free hand over his mouth before any more of his booming laughter could escape. He pried my hand away, but didn't let go. Both of my hands were now held hostage by Edwards much larger ones. He only laughed loudly again while I looked around waiting for a teacher to come out and yell.

I glared at him and squeezed his hands as hard as I could with mine. He winced but shut up right away. Then it was his turn to glare at me, only he had a smile on his face while doing it.

_Stupid, beautiful crooked smile._

---

Turns out that Edward was in all but two of my classes, surprisingly. Coincidentally, he either sat next to me or across from me in every single one and we'd spend the whole entire period nudging and playfully glaring at each other, trying to see who would get caught and given a lecture to first. Naturally I lost. My day was filled with: _What has gotten into you Isabella?_'s.

I thought all way going good until end of the day homeroom. Edward said he'd wait for me at my locker after the last bell rang and I was strangely pleased. A few people gave me odd looks when I walked into homeroom with a smile on my face.

I'd ignored them and sat at my desk waiting for the last fifteen minutes of the day to go by. I'd been in my own world when I felt someone tap my shoulder.

"Isabella, right?" A girl named Heather asked me. I nodded, trying not to look annoyed that she'd even asked my name. She'd been in my class since second grade.

"You were talking to that Edward guy, weren't you?" She smiled at me and waited for me to answer. I let out a yes and she smiled an even bigger smile."Isn't he just the sweetest?" _Oh, so he's talked to her…_

"Yeah, he's pretty nice." I replied, unsure of what her intentions on talking to me were. Suddenly she turned back to her friends and her smile was brighter then ever.

"See I told you guys. He's not just unbelievable gorgeous, he's so sweet too. That's why I was surprised when he said that we should hang out sometime. I think we're going to the movies this weekend." She raved to them, then shot me a look, much different from the smile she'd just given me no more then a minute ago. "It's a wonder someone like him would even talk to someone like you Bella. Although he said he was just being nice. No offense. I mean you're alright looking, nothing special though. Just don't get your hopes up dear, he's totally into me." She gave me a condescending smile and flipped her fake blonde hair at me.

I turned away from her completely in shock. She'd been nice to me and then completely turned into a total, excuse my language, bitch. I felt the tears bubble up in my eyes when I remembered what she had said, _'he said that we should hang out sometime. I think we're going to the movies this weekend', 'he's totally into me'._

The final bell rang in the air and I grabbed my stuff in a hurry to leave as quickly as possible. I didn't turn towards my locker as I ran out of the room. I didn't want to see him there. I walked to the exit of the school as fast as I could and ignored him calling after me. He'd fallen into the trap of the populars, and I was going to be left alone again.

Silly me, I'd thought I'd be the one to ruin the friendship.

---

I ran into my house and threw my things on the couch. Renee looked up from her place on the chair next to the couch and stared at me. She saw the tears running down my face and sprang up from her place, rushing over to me."Baby, what's wrong?" She cooed into my hair as she hugged me tightly and rubbed my back. I mumbled incoherent words into her shoulder and she nodded as if she understood. She let go of me quickly and ran over to the door, grabbed her car keys and ushered me out the door and into the car. I'm not sure how long we drove for, but I didn't care. Renee listened to my crying and she let me explain at my own pace. She hadn't even said anything when I mentioned Edward and I thanked mentally. Finally we'd parked the car on the side of the street next to row of stores. Had we really driven into L.A.?

We both got out of the car and Renee wrapped her arms around my shoulders and we walked down the sidewalk looking in the windows of the stores and pointing out things we liked, but couldn't buy because we'd been in such a rush that we'd forgotten money.

When I'd gotten tired of walking, we sat on a bench and people watched. We were watching a far away couple talking, more like arguing and we started putting words in their mouths, Renee was the guy and I was the girl. I couldn't remember a time when I'd laughed so hard and I liked the feeling. Renee was being Mom today and I felt like crying in happiness.

As soon as the sun started setting we shuffled back to the car, not wanting to leave. In the car, Renee put on the cheesiest radio station she could find and we started singing along to all the songs, making up lyrics for the ones we didn't know.

"Mom," I said through chuckles as she belted out the wrong lyrics to an unknown song.

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"Thank you for this. It's been a long time since we've done anything like this." I smiled at her, "I had fun."

"I'm glad we could do this, Bells." She reached one hand over and rubbed my arm. "How about you stay home tomorrow, and we have a girls day. Mom and daughter."

"I'd like that." Then I fell asleep for the rest of the ride home.

---

"Bella! Wake up, sweets. We're home." I heard Renee say as I felt the car shake as we pulled into our driveway. I yawned and rubbed my eyes as she shut the car off. I pulled the car door open and swung it open. Renee walked over to me and put her arm around my waist and kissed the top of my head, "Let's get you inside, Bells. You've had a long day." I responded with a yawn and she laughed.

As we rounded the corner for the front door, Renee stopped abruptly and I was forced to stop with her, because of her grip on me. I shut my eyes once and opened them, still not believe the sight in front of me. Edward was sitting on our steps staring at his feet, obviously not noticing we were there yet. Renee cleared her throat and he looked up. Once he noticed it was me he stood and brushed his pants off.

"Hello?" Renee said sticking her hand out to shake his. He complied but his eyes never left me as he shook Renee's hand. "You are?" She asked him. He blinked away from me and to my mother, "Edward. Edward Masen." She gave her a slight smile and then looked back at me.

"Nice to meet you Edward, it's nice of you to come over to talk to Bella, no doubt, but I'm not sure-""No, Mom it's ok. Go inside I'll be in soon." I said and pulled out of her grip on my waist, that had tightened when Edward stated who he was. I looked back at him, "And I mean _soon._" She gave me an unsure look but I gently pushed her towards the door. She'd been hesitant to open the door, but eventually she did and went inside.

"I don't even want to talk to you right now, so you have ten seconds to explain what you could possibly want." I folded my arms across my chest and took a defensive stance.

"Please explain what I did to make you so pissed off." He mimicked my stance and narrowed his eyes.

"_Please_," I mocked, "Go talk to Heather." I pushed past him, hitting his shoulder with mine.

"Heather? What does that girl have to do with anything." He had followed me as I walked closer to the house. I spun around to face him with a scowl on my face.

"I'm sorry I'm too plain for you and you felt like you had to be nice to me. I never asked you to. Just… don't talk to me." I turned around but didn't move. I heard his footsteps coming closer and then I felt his hot breath on my ear. "Do you know how angry that makes me? You're anything but plain. Do you honestly think that I could ever say that about you?" I felt his chest and stomach pressed against my head and back and shivered at the contact."Jesus, Bella. You'd believe that fake, bottle blonde, who probably hasn't spoken a word to you in how long, before you'd believe what I'm saying now?" His hands had moved to my upper arms keeping me in place in front of him. It was too close.

"Why else would you possibly be talking to someone like me?" I muttered softly.

"Because you're the only thing that can take my mind off of my father. I find you fascinating, Bella. I want to get to know you better. I'd like to be friends." I closed my eyes at the sound of his voice. I ignored the fact that the word 'friends' had a double meaning from what his voice portrayed.

"I'm not going to school tomorrow." I answered and when he didn't reply I continued, "Do you have your phone?" I got out, using all the power I had in me to say it. I turned around and his arms dropped from my arms. One of his hands reached into his pocket and he handed it to me. I grasped it in my hands and flipped it open. I quickly entered my house number into the phone, shutting it and giving it back to him. He gave me a questioning look as he went through his contacts and found my number.

"Because I can't trust myself to call you, you'll have to call me." I looked up at him trying to get a good look in his eyes. "Just… I want you to think over the whole friendship with me thing before you call." I moved my foot to step away from him, but I was swooped up into a bone crushing hug.

"There's no need for me to rethink." He muttered into my hair, then set me back on my feet. "I'll call you tomorrow, Bella." He smiled and began to walk away from me, whistling. I closed my eyes and headed inside, part of me hoping he wouldn't call. But an even bigger part of me wishing he would.

**Wow, this chapter was 15 pages long. I couldn't stop writing! Sorry it took me longer to update. I was really busy these last few days. If anyone else is interested in being a beta for this story, please tell me. **

**For the people who already offered I'll read over some of your stuff and then decide!**

**REVIEW!!!! Please : )**


End file.
